Video is an important part of people's digital life, with a strong impact on entertainment, enterprise solutions, education, and medical services. The amount of internet video is growing at an astonishing rate. In 2011, 82.5% of the U.S. internet audience viewed a video online, with an average 816.4 minutes of video viewing per user. By 2013, it is estimated that 90% of internet traffic will be video. Video may be continuously streamed to users in real time. For example, a video of a sporting event may be streamed live.
Cloud computing may be used to distribute video content over the internet. Cloud computing involves the use of hardware and software to deliver content as a service over a network, such as the internet. The content is stored on the cloud, not on user equipment. Cloud computing allows for the delivery of multimedia content with agility, reliability, scalability, security, a high performance, and a low cost. Cloud content may be available on demand.